Senior Combat Designer - Freelance

Job description

**This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Senior Combat Designer - Freelance based in Netherlands.** Join a fully remote game development team working on ambitious projects designed to deliver memorable player experiences. In this role, you’ll help shape the combat systems, enemy behaviours, and gameplay mechanics at the heart of a major upcoming title. You’ll combine creative design with hands-on implementation, prototyping, balancing, and technical problem-solving in Unreal Engine. Your work will directly influence how combat feels at both the moment-to-moment level and across broader RPG progression systems. You’ll collaborate closely with programmers, artists, animators, VFX, audio, level designers, and production teams. This is an opportunity to make a meaningful creative impact while working alongside experienced developers across Europe. ### Accountabilities: As a Senior Combat Designer, you’ll own key aspects of combat design and implementation, helping turn creative concepts into polished, responsive, and engaging gameplay experiences. - Develop, refine, and evolve the project's core combat systems and overall combat direction. - Pitch, prototype, implement, balance, and ship a diverse range of enemy archetypes and bosses. - Fine-tune combat at a detailed level, including animation timing, invulnerability frames, hitboxes, frame data, and overall responsiveness. - Structure enemy behaviours in alignment with RPG mechanics, progression systems, weapon levels, character statistics, and player builds. - Implement character combat behaviours using Unreal Engine features such as Behaviour Trees, Animation Graphs, and Blueprints. - Provide Gameplay Programmers with clear technical requirements and collaborate closely on implementation. - Create basic combat level setups that clearly communicate design intent to Level Design, Art, and Production teams. - Identify, investigate, and resolve gameplay bugs and issues throughout development to maintain a stable and polished experience. - Collaborate with Character Art, Animation, VFX, Audio, and other disciplines to deliver highly polished combat encounters and characters. - Produce clear, concise, and visually oriented documentation covering mechanics, features, systems, and design intent. - Use usability testing, focus testing, and internal playtests to assess gameplay quality and identify opportunities for improvement. - Provide constructive feedback and recommend solutions that strengthen the current project and future gameplay experiences. **Requirements:** You’ll be a strong fit if you combine substantial game design experience with deep combat expertise, strong technical understanding, and a passion for challenging action RPG experiences. - 5+ years of professional Game Design experience. - Several years of demonstrated experience working specifically as a Combat Designer or in a closely comparable role. - Deep passion for and expertise in the Soulslike genre, with a strong understanding of its combat principles and player expectations. - Experience contributing to at least one shipped AAA title in a game design capacity is highly preferred. - Strong understanding of gameplay mechanics, combat systems, player progression, and the principles behind modern game design. - Hands-on familiarity with Unreal Engine and experience creating and working with Blueprints. - Ability to prototype, implement, balance, and iterate combat systems and enemy behaviours. - Strong understanding of melee combat and the ability to make detailed decisions around timing, hitboxes, animation, and responsiveness. - Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively across multiple disciplines. - Strong organisational skills and the ability to manage priorities, meet deadlines, and maintain quality in a fast-paced development environment. - Creative and open-minded approach to problem-solving, with the confidence to propose and defend gameplay ideas. - Ability to start immediately and work effectively as part of a distributed European development team. - Right to work in the country where you reside. **Benefits:** - 5-month freelance contract with an immediate start. - Fully remote working environment across Europe. - Flexible working hours with core collaboration hours from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM CET. - Opportunity to work on ambitious, high-profile game development projects. - Exposure to cutting-edge technologies and modern game development practices. - Collaboration with talented developers across disciplines and locations. - Private medical insurance. - 25 days of annual leave plus bank holidays. - Sports membership reimbursement. - Company events and team activities. - Remote office setup support. - Profit-sharing bonus. - Generous referral scheme. - Flexible working hours. - Diverse and inclusive working environment that welcomes people from a wide range of backgrounds.